Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn called on Twitter to apologize Tuesday for blocking her pro-life Senate campaign ad from the platform.
Blackburn, who announced her campaign last week for retiring Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker's seat, had posted an ad in which she said she had “stopped the sale of baby parts.” Twitter blocked the video, saying the statement in question would have to be nixed for the ad to be allowed.
“I am appalled by Twitter’s attempt to censor my pro-life record, and I believe that the entire pro-life community deserves an apology and explanation for their actions,” Blackburn said in a statement on Tuesday. “I have spent my entire career fighting to protect and honor life, and I refuse to allow an organization whose stated mission is to ‘provide information instantly, without barriers’ the ability to silence our efforts to protect the unborn.”
In the video, Blackburn had said: “I’m 100% pro-life. I fought Planned Parenthood, and we stopped the sale of baby body parts –thank God.”
Twitter told Blackburn’s campaign in an email obtained by Fox News that the line was “deemed an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”
Blackburn was the chair of a Republican-run House panel created to investigate Planned Parenthood and fetal tissue research. The panel urged Congress to stop federal payments to the women’s health organization.
Democrats alleged that the GOP investigation had found no wrongdoing and wasted taxpayers’ money in an abusive investigation.
The panel was created after anti-abortion activists secretly recorded videos in 2015 showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing how they sometimes provide fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal if no profit is made.
Fetal tissue research has strong backing among scientists for its value in studying Down syndrome, eye disease and other problems. But Blackburn’s committee report said fetal tissue “makes a vanishingly small contribution to clinical and research efforts, if it contributes at all,” and recommended curbing federal grants for such research.
Blackburn’s nearly two-and-a-half minute video also features footage of her shooting a gun and taking fellow Republicans in the Senate to task for failing to repeal ObamaCare.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman, Mike Emanuel, Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.